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A lot of unconfirmed reports out there, and none of them are good for either man.

some witness quotes via deadspin:

Rich Willis, who was at the track, said he didn't see exactly what happened but his sister down in Turn 1 did. He saw Stewart and Kevin Ward get into the wreck.

"People (who could see it better) said the guy got out of his car and was gesturing angrily at Tony Stewart when Tony Stewart came by during the next lap under yellow," Willis said in a phone interview. "He approached him and evidently when he was driving by the guy standing on the track gesturing at him, he gunned his engine.

"What happened was the back end kicked out and clipped the guy and the guy flew across the track."

Tyler Graves, a sprint-car racer and friend of Ward's, told Sporting News in a phone interview that he was sitting in the Turn 1 grandstands and saw everything that happened.

"Tony pinched him into the frontstretch wall, a racing thing," Graves said. "The right rear tire went down, he spun on the exit of (Turn) 2. They threw the caution and everything was toned down. Kevin got out of his car. … He was throwing his arms up all over the place at Tony for most of the corner.

"I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle. When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards."

It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

There's video on youtube and it looks legit. Not going to post it here, but it looks really, really bad.

There was clear intent to turn in the direction of that kid. Can't really determine if he lost his mind and hit him on purpose, but Stewart's car was moving a lot faster and swerving in his direction in a way the other cars were not.

Last edited by Kstat; 08-10-2014 at 02:51 AM.

It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

I watched the video as well. I don't think it was intentional hit him per, but Stewart intentionally did something extremely reckless. Just awful. Stewart knows as well as anyone that when you slam the gas on those cars the back end can slide out very easily.

There's no way he can run the race, it hurts NASCAR period...I wouldn't be surprised if NASCAR suspended him indefinently and get him the hell out of their limelight for a long time.

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

This is a double case of Dave Chappelle's When Keepin It Real Goes Wrong...

The kid shouldn't have ran out on the track, he was almost hit a couple of times, and Tony obviously lost his mind, and yeah he should be in jail.

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

After watching the video it's not what I expected... The rear stagger and power to weight ratio make these cars easy to step out with a blip of the throttle. And I expected to see Tony gun it as he passed the guy and then see the rear of the car step out. But that doesn't appear to be what happened. That would've been bad but Stewart appears to have complete control of the car. I don't see him gunning it as he approaches past the guy and the car tragically step out. Instead, it looks like Tony tried to run him back and for whatever reason he hit him. IOW, he made a very dangerous and stupid move in the heat of the moment.

I'd like to see a better look at what went on when the camera was following the other car before it went back and caught Stewart just before he hit the guy. The only caveat I can add is maybe there was something we don't see that affected Stewart's direction. But from what I see it looks bad. Very bad.

As far as Stewart racing Sunday... He's a racer. That's what he does. Right now maybe that seems to him like the best thing. But I bet come sunrise there will be a lot of voices in his ear telling him not to drive. I'll be surprised if he does. This wasn't your normal short track incident.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

As far as Stewart racing Sunday... He's a racer. That's what he does. Right now maybe that seems to him like the best thing. But I bet come sunrise there will be a lot of voices in his ear telling him not to drive. I'll be surprised if he does. This wasn't your normal short track incident.

Once he truly realizes that regardless he killed another human being, no matter if it's deemed to be "accidental" or on purpose, I think the senses will get the best of him. At worst NASCAR will deal with a lawsuit from Tony that they no doubt would win, I mean they have video and witness evidence.

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

I take back part of what I said... Upon further review you can hear an engine rev which I am going to assume is Stewart's while he is off camera. When the camera comes back to Stewart I think he is already in a bit of a slide but he's not just trying to run the guy up the track. Although I have little doubt he gunned it for effect and the consequences turned tragic.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

And upon further, further review... The video on Deadspin, where I first saw the accident, apparently has audio synch issues. You hear revving as contact is made. In the other video (which is the same video as Deadspin) that I saw on Youtube, the engine revs you hear are while Stewart is off camera (which is why I changed my opinion slightly about what I was seeing). In fact, the revs you hear on the Deadspin video as contact is made is not even on this other video. It makes me wonder if someone intentionally doctored the Deadspin video's audio and moving it for dramatic effect. It makes more sense that Stewart blipped the throttle and then lost the rearend of the car and then the camera moves back to him and we see the aftermath of the car breaking lose than it does that Stewart would be on the throttle when he makes contact. That the engine rev audio at Deadspin moved from when Tony's car is off camera to when he makes contact is either manipulated or just a product of video compression and a gruesome coincidence.

But anyway....there's at least two videos, otherwise the same, with a distinctive difference in the audio synch.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

Bad decisions on both parties. Rule one, used to be standard fare in the driver's meeting, stay in your car until track personnel get to you. Was he trying to buzz him? Probably. Was it dumb? Most definitely. Typical Tony? In some ways, yes. Add in a guy out of the car in a black suit and a black helmet and you have a very bad situation.

The visibility out of a winged sprint car to the right is ****. You have the right side arm guard which goes up to the bottom of the helmet or slightly higher, the right side sideboard of the wing comes down to about the top of the hood due to the extreme angles they run now. Add in a HANS device and the containment seats and you can't move your head much and you can't see **** out of the car especially to the right. As a comparison, the last time I was in a winged car was around 2000. I am 6'1". Tony is quite a bit shorter than me. At that time I had about a 10" gap to look out to the right except about 45-60 degrees out to the right which was at least partially blanked out by the side plate. The arm guard came up to about halfway up my upper arm. This was before the HANS devices and full containment seats, so I could actually move around a little bit.

I'm glad he decided not to go today.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetime’s worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

I understand drivers getting out of their cars when they are on fire, but watching what this kid did was one of the dumbest things I have ever watched. Yes, the cars had slowed down, but even under caution those cars are still going really fast and to put yourself right in the middle of it was just creating the opportune for a tragedy to happen.

I keep reading about how Tony should be charged for murder, but given the circumstances all I can see is this being a horrible accident because two guys let their tempers get the best of them.